Image capture apparatus and image signal processing apparatus

Abstract

An image capture apparatus includes an image capture unit that has a plurality of unit pixels each including a plurality of photo-electric conversion units per condenser unit, and a recording unit that records captured image signals, which are captured by the image capture unit and are respectively read out from the plurality of photo-electric conversion units, and the recording unit records identification information which allows to identify each photo-electric conversion unit used to obtain the captured image signal in association with that captured image signal.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An image capture apparatus comprising:
 image capture unit having a plurality of micro-lenses, wherein a plurality of photo-electric conversion portions are arranged for each of the micro-lenses; 
 recording unit configured to record captured image signals which are read out from the photo-electric conversion portions; 
 outputting unit configured to output positional information which corresponds to positions of the photo-electric conversion portions in each micro-lens; and 
 a processing unit configured to group the image signals of the photo-electric conversion portions into groups based on the positional information output by the outputting unit, 
 wherein the outputting unit outputs the positional information with regard to respective photo-electric conversion portions to group the image signals into groups to have a parallax direction corresponding to a left-eye image and a right-eye image, 
 wherein each of the groups includes the image signals which are read out from two or more photo-electric conversion portions, and 
 wherein the processing unit adjusts a gain of the image signals based on a number of captured image signals combined into the respective groups. 
 
     
     
       2. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the outputting unit outputs pieces of different positional information in association with respective captured image signals of the plurality of photo-electric conversion portions corresponding to the micro-lens. 
 
     
     
       3. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the positional information indicates a positional relationship of a respective photo-electric conversion portion corresponding to the micro-lens. 
 
     
     
       4. An image signal processing apparatus generating image signals for stereoscopic vision using captured image signals in respective photo-electric conversion portions of an image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 , and pieces of the positional information respectively associated with the captured image signals. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus according to  claim 4 ,
 wherein the positional information indicates a positional relationship of a respective photo-electric conversion portion corresponding to the micro-lens. 
 
     
     
       6. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising
 a specifying unit to specify addresses of the photo-electric conversion portions based on the positional information, 
 wherein the processing unit combines the image signals which are read out from the photo-electric conversion portions based on the addresses of the photo-electric conversion portions. 
 
     
     
       7. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the processing unit combines the image signals which are read out from the photo-electric conversion portions into the groups in accordance with a rotation angle. 
 
     
     
       8. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the positional information includes a physical positional relationship between the photo-electric conversion portion and micro-lens corresponding to the photo-electric conversion portions. 
 
     
     
       9. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the outputting unit outputs the positional information for respective photo-electric conversion portions in association with the respective image signals read out from the respective photo-electric conversion portions. 
 
     
     
       10. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the positional information is associated with a position x in the x-axis direction and a position y in the y-axis direction. 
 
     
     
       11. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the positional information is output at the head of the image signals recorded by the recording unit. 
 
     
     
       12. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 11 ,
 wherein the recording unit records capture image signals for each of a plurality of image signals having common positional information. 
 
     
     
       13. An image signal processing method comprising:
 generating image signals for stereoscopic vision using captured image signals in respective photo-electric conversion portions of an image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 , and 
 associating pieces of the positional information with the captured image signals. 
 
     
     
       14. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 3 ,
 wherein the positional relationship of respective photo-electric conversion portions is related to address information corresponding to the position of the each micro-lens. 
 
     
     
       15. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the processing unit determines an imaging process for the image signals based on the positional information which is related to the image signals. 
 
     
     
       16. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the outputting unit outputs the positional information to external apparatus to generate image signal to be displayed. 
     
     
       17. The image capture apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the processing unit processes the image signals based on the positional information output by the outputting unit after the recording unit records captured image signals which are processed by the processing unit. 
     
     
       18. A method of controlling an image capture apparatus including image capture unit having a plurality of micro-lenses, wherein a plurality of photo-electric conversion portions are arranged for each of the micro-lenses, said method comprising:
 recording captured image signals which are read out from the photo-electric conversion portions; and 
 outputting positional information which corresponds to positions of the photo-electric conversion portions each micro-lens; and 
 grouping the image signals of the photo-electric conversion portions into groups based on the positional information output by the outputting unit, 
 wherein in the outputting, the positional information with regard to respective photo-electric conversion portions is output to group the image signals into groups to have a parallax direction corresponding to a left-eye image and a right-eye image, 
 wherein each of the groups includes the image signals which are read out from two or more photo-electric conversion portions, and 
 wherein in the grouping, a gain of the image signals is adjusted based a number of captured image signals combined into the respective groups.